East Slavic languages - a subgroup of languages that is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family. They are common in Eastern Europe, in Asia, America and other parts of the world.
Classification
East Slavic languages include both living and already dead languages and various dialects. As for the first group, this includes:
- Belorussian.
- Russian.
- Ukrainian.
- Ruthenian, which is sometimes considered as a dialect of Ukrainian.
As for dead languages, this includes Old Russian, which existed before the 14th century, West Russian, which was used by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as Old Novgorod dialect with its own characteristics.
History
Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian are Slavic languages. The East Slavic aspect is represented by the fact that these languages had a common ancestor - the Old Russian language, which appeared in the 7th century on the basis of the Pre-Slavic. In connection with various historical circumstances, the Old Russian nationality was divided into three large branches - Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian, each of which went its own way of development.
The East Slavic group of languages developed for a long time. Some differences appeared in languages quite late - in the 14th century, while others many centuries earlier. All three languages are characterized by similar morphology, grammar and vocabulary, but they also have significant differences. Some grammatical categories are inherent only in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, and are absent in Russian. The same applies to vocabulary, since a significant number of lexical units in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages are of Polish origin.
Features
East Slavic languages have their own distinctive features that distinguish them from others:
- Phonetics. It is characterized by the presence of the Proto-Slavic combinations -oro-, -olo-, -ere-, -elo, hundred, which is not typical for the southern and western Slavs, as well as the presence of consonants: h, j, which were simplified in other Slavic languages.
- Vocabulary. The East Slavic subgroup of languages inherited most of its lexical units from the Pre-Slavic language, but it also has its own characteristics that distinguish them from other Slavs. The group is also characterized by borrowing, in particular from the Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Turkic, Iranian, Caucasian, and Western European languages.
East Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet that came from Bulgaria, however, each group language has its own characteristics and letters that are not found in others.
Belarusian language
It is the national language of Belarusians and the official language of the Republic of Belarus. In addition, it is spoken in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland, and others. Like other East Slavic languages, Belarusian comes from Old Russian and was formed around the 13-14th century on the territory of modern Belarus. This was facilitated by the formation of the Belarusian nationality, united by political, geographical, religious and other factors. The unification of lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania played a special role in this . At this time, the Belarusian language becomes official and almost all state and legal documentation is maintained in it. Also, the development of the language was promoted by schools in the communities that arose in Belarus in the 15th century.
Significant memoirs of the written language of the Belarusian language are the Lithuanian Statute, the annals of Abraham and Bykhovets, "Psalter", "Small road book", "Slovenian grammar" and others. The revival of the language began in the 19-20 century and is associated with Janka Kupala, Jacob Kolos and other names .
Russian language
Russian is one of the East Slavic languages. It is considered one of the world diplomatic languages and is owned by several million people around the world. The basis of the Russian nationality was the tribes that inhabited the territory of Veliky Novgorod and the interfluve of the Volga and Oka.
The formation of a nationality was facilitated by the development of a centralized state that fought with the Tatars and Mongols. An important role in this was played by the reform work of Peter I, as well as the work of M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavina, N.I. Novikova, N.I. Karamzin and others. The founder of the national Russian language is considered A.S. Pushkin. Its peculiarity is a strict syllabic principle and the double meaning of many letters. The basis of the vocabulary is formed by Old Slavonic lexical units, as well as various borrowings.
Ukrainian language
One of the most common Slavic languages. It is spoken in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Moldova, etc. The features of the Ukrainian language began to appear in the 12th century, and from the 14th century, Ukrainians have emerged as a separate nation with their own distinctive features.
The emergence of the Ukrainian nation is associated with the struggle of the people against Polish and Tatar aggression. An important role in the development of Ukrainian writing was played by the works of Grigory Skovoroda, T.G. Shevchenko, I.Ya. Franco, Lesia Ukrainka, I.P. Kotlyarevsky, G.R. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko et al. The vocabulary of the Ukrainian language is characterized by the presence of borrowings from Polish, Turkic and German.
Russian language
It is a combination of diverse literary-linguistic and dialectic formations that are characteristic of Rusyns. This nationality lives in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, in Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, as well as on the theory of Canada and the United States. To date, the number of people who speak this language is about 1.5 million people.
There are different opinions regarding whether to consider Rusyn as a separate language, or as a dialect of Ukrainian. Modern Ukrainian legislation considers Rusyn as a language of national minorities, while, for example, in Serbia, it is considered official.
Characteristic of this language is the presence of a large number of Church Slavisms, as well as numerous polonisms, Germanisms, mannerisms and other features that are not inherent in the Ukrainian language. It is also characterized by the presence of many lexical units that are of Hungarian origin. In addition to this, there is a huge layer of Slavic vocabulary in the language, which undoubtedly connects it with other East Slavic relatives.
The East Slavic group of languages is part of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family and has features and differences in comparison with the languages of the Western and Southern Slavs. This group includes Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian languages, as well as a number of languages and dialects that are now dead. This group is distributed in Eastern Europe, Asia, America, as well as in other parts of the world.